OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



251 



accompanied our people to the ships ; leaving only Togolat's idiot-boy by the 

 sledge, tying him to a dog and the dog to the ice. As soon as they came v^-w 

 under the bows they halted in a line and, according to their former promise, 

 gave three cheers, which salutation a few of us on the forecastle did not fail 

 to return. As soon as they got on board they expressed extreme joy at 

 seeing us again, repeated each of our names with great earnestness, and 

 were indeed much gratified by this unexpected rencontre. Ewerat being 

 now mounted on the plank which goes across the gunwales of our ships 

 for conning them conveniently among the ice, explained in a very clear and 

 pilot-like manner, that the island which we observed to lie off Cape Wilson 

 was that marked by Iligliuk in one of her charts, (No. 1.) and there called 

 AwUkteewik, pronounced by Ewerat Ow-littee-iveek. On asking how many 

 days' journey it was still to Amitioke, they all agreed in saying ten; and 

 back to Winter Island oonooktoot, (a great many,) so that we had good reason 

 to hope we were not far from the former place. I may at once remark, 

 however, that great caution is requisite in judging of the information these 

 people give of the distances from one place to another, as expressed by the 

 number of seeniks (sleeps) or days' journeys, to which in other countries a 

 definite value is affixed. No two Esquimaux will 1 give the same account 

 in this respect, though each is equally desirous of furnishing correct infor- 

 mation ; for besides their deficiency as arithmeticians, which renders the 

 enumeration of ten a labour, and of fifteen almost an impossibility to many 

 of them, each individual forms his idea of the distance, according to the 

 season of the year, and consequently the mode of travelling in which his 

 own journey has been performed. Instances of this kind will be observed in 

 the charts of the Esquimaux, in which they notf only differ from each other 

 in this respect, but the same individual differs from himself at different times. 

 It is only, therefore, by a careful comparison of the various accounts, and 

 by making allowance for the different circumstances under which the journeys 

 have been made, that these apparent inconsistencies can be reconciled, and 

 an approximation to the truth obtained. 



Many of our officers and men cordially greeted these poor people as old 

 acquaintance they were glad to see again, and they were loaded as usual 

 with numerous presents, of which the only danger to be apprehended was 

 lest they should go mad on account of them. The women screamed in a 

 convulsive manner at every thing they received, and cried for five minutes 

 together with the excess of their joy; and to the honour of " John Bull" be 



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